Entwined: First Hatched
by LivesEntwined
Summary: How did people come to be Tenders of Dragons? How did one of our main characters get her dragons? All explained in this story! Based off Zephyr Drake's scroll on DragCave. Dragon Cave is copyright TJ, the characters are copyright Zephyr and Callie.
1. Prologue

**Dragon Cave () is copyright to T.J. Lipscomb, the dragon breeds and art are copyright TJ and their respective artists, these individual dragons, characters and the storylines belong to Zephyr_Drake and LightningRip. **Probably rated higher than nessesary because there _may_ be fighting, there will be a zombifacation (eventualy) and mating flights.

* * *

**Prologue**

Walking across the shell-littered cave floor, a girl paused and sat down on a rock that had been her perch for the last several weeks. Staring at the rain outside, she felt as though the weather matched her mood very well. She again looked at the egg shells on the ground. Not one of the 8 eggs she had tried to hatch in the last two clutches had survived. And just today, another 3 eggs had burst open after death, scattering their egg shards everywhere.

She eyed the last egg in the makeshift nest. It was a light creamy green and only about the size of a large ostrich or emu egg, possibly a little bit bigger, and smelled of fresh mint. Out of the four eggs in this last clutch, it was the last survivor. Hugging her jumper closer, the girl got up and sat down on the pile of straw and rags she had been using as a bed beside the nest, clearing off a few stray egg shards. She sat for quite some time, just staring at the last egg, before slowly closing her eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

The girl woke to the sound of an eggshell cracking. Without opening her eyes, she groaned, believing that her last egg had died. Until she heard a shrilled chirp. She opened her eyes, and saw a small green head poking out of a large hole in the shell. She stared wide eyed at the little dear, before it pulled its head back upon seeing her. The girl tried to make comforting noises, by the hatchling was too scared to leave its shell. She reached for her bag to see what little food she had left. One apple and half a salad sandwich, well it would have to do. She placed the sandwich outside the egg and waited.

The little mint hatchling poked its head outside again. It was so hungry, but didn't want to leave its shell... The girl giggled softly as the hatchling tried to reach out to the sandwich without leaving the shell, and then toppled over as a result. The now-fragile shell cracked and fell apart, revealing the little mint happily munching away at the sandwich. The girl moved so she was in front of the hatchling, who squealed in surprise and tried to run, but found no way out of the nest.

"There there little one..." The girl spoke softly before biting off a chunk of apple. The little hatchling cautiously took the chunk and ate it, then still hungry, cried for more. "ok, ok, I'll give you more!" The girl quickly bit off more chunks and fed them to the little mint. Once it was full, the hatchling curled up as the girl stroked it. She smiled "I am glad you have finally hatched, my name is Zephyr, and I will be your tender..."


	2. Chapter 1

**Dragon Cave () is copyright to T.J. Lipscomb, the dragon breeds and art are copyright TJ and their respective artists, these individual dragons, characters and the storylines belong to Zephyr_Drake and LightningRip. **Probably rated higher than nessesary because there _may_ be fighting, there will be a zombifacation (eventualy) and mating flights.

This chapter explains how the dragon cave and dragons were found in the first place. It is more like a history book than an actualy story at this stage.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Dragon Tenders Manual**

There was once a time of when dragons were just a myth, and people spent their whole lives in a single dimension. Cut off from the rest of the universe in their own dimension for thousands of years, men forgot the times when dragons roamed freely, and the men who once tended these great beasts, cut of from their magical abilities, aged and died. But men never truly forgot, and the fear and awe that men once showed for dragons still lived on. Men lived like this for thousands of years, until one man rediscovered the other dimensions, and once again men walked beside dragons.

In the year 2015, a man named TJ rediscovered the portal that lead from this world into the huge cavern-filled world know as the dragon caves. Upon his discovery, the government was quick to try and cover it up and use this new dimension and its giant inhabitants for themselves. But this discovery lead to total social upheaval, lead by TJ himself, that allowed Man to come and go between Terra and DC. Soon other portals were found, which lead to lands perfect for dragon clans to live in.

Men (and women) soon began to raise dragons for themselves, taking to the cave systems in the new dimensions. These people, who became known as tenders, lived as long as their dragons, and soon became the thing that every child wanted to be. Some, such as TJ, obtained a god-like status, and a whole new culture formed around the dragons and their tenders. Wherever a dragon clan formed, a village would form in a nearby valley. As it turned out, dragon-dung was super fertile, and resulted in massive crop yields, and shed scales of some breeds sold for a small fortune.

And as the dragon tenders colonized new dimensions, they discovered more dragon breeds. Some clans grew so big that they required a whole dimension to sustain itself, and thousands of villages and cites could be within their territories. The very first caverns used by clans became too small, and were made vacant, and it became tradition to allow new tenders to hatch their first eggs in such territories, where already established villages and cites could support them with food while their dragons were to young to hunt.

But not all was well in this world. Beast and monsters lurked in some worlds, to be released when clans entered them, and caused havoc in other dimensions. Some, such as the AP monsters, were helpful most of the time, cleaning up dead eggs within DC itself, but some strains mutated, causing chaos when they began killing live eggs and preventing tenders from getting new eggs. Another loathed beast is the Lag Monster. These have always been around, but most are small and weak, and easy to defend against. But one dimension held a swarm of super Lag Monsters, and one St. Patrick's day, they were released on DC, causing tenders to be unable to communicate with their distressed dragons. A mutant strain of these resulted in the dreaded Data Monster, a giant beast that went between clans, killing dragon after dragon. The great TJ defeated the Data Monster, and was able use his greater magical abilities to revive many dead dragons.

There are many trials and tests when you become a Tender. The first is to get your eggs to hatch. It may take many weeks and dead eggs until you finally hatch your first dragon, and even then you may give up after the mental strain of the loss of so many baby dragons. Nobody will help you, otherwise there would be too many weak tenders out there and not enough territories...

* * *

Hannah closed her book, rubbing her head. She could no longer tell if they were trying to encourage or discourage people from becoming tenders. She had applied to become a tender just the day before, and been told to read this book before even finishing the application. She was terran born, so had little experience with dragons, and whenever a spot came up in the Tender academe, there were millions of applicants. But oh how she wanted to be a tender! Her best friend Callie had told her she also wanted to apply, and the oldest students in the academy were about to leave to try their luck with their first eggs. She sighed, and put her book down beside her on the bedside table, turned off the lamp and rolled over, seeking the sleep that so annoyingly evaded her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Dragon Cave (DragCave) is copyright to T.J. Lipscomb, the dragon breeds and art are copyright TJ and their respective artists, these individual dragons, characters and the storylines belong to Zephyr_Drake and LightningRip. **Probably rated higher than necessary because there _may_ be fighting, there will be a zombifacation (eventually) and mating flights.

This is another backstory chapter (bleh) but needs to be in here.

**Chapter 2: Mailbox**

Every teenager in the high school looked like they hadn't slept in weeks. As she walked through the corridors, Hannah noted that most teens around her own age had bags under their eyes, yet it was nowhere near exam time. She most probably also had these dark marks under her eyes, marking her as one of the many in this school alone that had applied to the Dragon Tender academy and had been up at all hours studying. Everyone knew that the students only stayed there for a year but those who had gone last year were about to leave for DC, to find their first eggs and become dragon tenders... possibly.

So the Academy was now sifting through their applications, choosing those that it felt would have the best survival rate in the other realms and who was strong enough to raise the dragons and manage a clan, even with scant little to use. These were probably some that had applied just to say they had, and there were people who did get chosen when they were not suitable, and then became tenders, but came home broken after months of hard fruitless work and the deaths of many dragonets and eggs. There was one girl, who had apparently been the "queen bee" of her grade, that was now a semi-lifeless shell, who wandered the halls, crying for her lone dragon who was slain by a Lag Monster.

As she walked down the stairs, Hannah spotted Layne running towards her from the other end of the corridor, only having light bags under her eyes. That girl could survive on an hours sleep night if she needed to.

"Wow, you look like you've slept less than I have, and THATS saying something!" Hannah grumbled at her friends comment.

"Well I am not used to staying up all night reading about something that I may never experience" She looked up as the bell rang. "C'mon, or we'll be late for class" Both girls walked with the crowd towards their home room.

As they walked into class and sat down, Hannah noted that only 4 or 5 of the others looked as if they had slept for more than three hours over the last few nights. There were already some who were falling asleep in their seats...

"Ok kids, I'm here, good morning... or not..." The teacher walked in and sighed. Clearly she saw this happen every year. "I can see that many of you have applied to the academy, you can see just by looking at you." All the students that had not had sleep groaned, while the few that had were stiffing giggles.

"Well, today you will be finding out who has been chosen to be interviewed for the spots in the school" The teacher smiled as every one of the tired faces lit up.

"Miss Jones, how do you know?" Hannah chirped up. "Yes Miss, how?" Murmurs went through the class, everyone trying to guess.

"The principal received a letter last week saying that there were students here that had been selected to be interviewed, and today he has given all the teachers of these children the names" She pulled out a piece of paper, and again, gasps and murmurs overtook the room.

"Shush please." Miss Jones eyed the noisy boys at the back of the class "Just because you get interviewed, doesn't mean you will get it. There are only 200 spots at the academy, and millions of applicants from all the different dimensions. There are, on average, 99 disappointed interviewees for every one that gets a spot."

Miss Jones shifted her feet. "Our school always has many students who get interviewed, and many of those go to the academy. While most who go come back broken or disheartened, we have many former students who have become well known Tenders with large clans. Today, the following people will have the chance to join them." She cleared her throat.

"Emma, Verdent, Mitch, Hannah, Alex, Hugo and Layne" The room erupted into cheers, the successful few being thumped on the back and hugged, the unsuccessful brushing off comforting and hiding disappointment. "Now, you 7 will be required to go to normal classes till 3rd period, when the academy representatives will be interviewing you." She smiled "You then wont hear from them until the last class actually leaves in a months time. Now, go to your 1st Period class you lot" Everyone left the room, already gossiping about how the 7 got chosen and why, and who would most likely get in.

* * *

It was a month since Hannah had been interviewed. As she set about making breakfast for her younger siblings, she looked back on it. The representative had come with a small green dragon, he called her a frozen Frill. She guessed the reason was to judge how she reacted to seeing her first dragon. After half an hour of seemingly unrelated questions, they had let her go and called in the next of the 40 students from the school who had been singled out for interview.

She looked out the window just in time to see the postman at the mailbox. She knew that the latest students had just left, they reported it on TV every few months. She quickly finished the last of the toast and placed it on the table for her brothers to dive into, and ran towards the door. As she ran in the cold morning mist, she cursed that she had not worn a jacket as she ran up to the mailbox. Surely enough, in the box was a letter addressed to her with a dragon seal on it...


	4. Chapter 3

**Dragon Cave (DragCave) is copyright to T.J. Lipscomb, the dragon breeds and art are copyright TJ and their respective artists, these individual dragons, characters and the storylines belong to Zephyr_Drake and LightningRip.** Probably rated higher than necessary because there may be fighting, there will be a zombifacation (eventually) and mating flights.

_This is another backstory chapter (cue cries of "but we want dragons") but needs to be in here. First , second and forth parts by LightningRip, third and fifth by Zephyr_Drake._

**Chapter 3: Packing Time**

Layne dashed up Hannah's sidewalk. She opened the door and rushed inside without waiting to knock. "Hannah!" She called, almost running into her friend. Both had letters with dragon seals on them in their hands. "Open them together?" Layne asked. Hannah nodded and both girls excitedly tore open the envelopes.

"Layne Herring,

I am happy to announce that you have been chosen to come to the Tender Academy. In a week or so, an escort will arrive to take you to the academy. Bring clothes and whatever sentimental things you'd like to bring. It is advised to bring pictures and gifts from your family and friends, as you may never see them again. Please keep in mind, all that you bring you must be able to carry. Since you live so close, you will be picked up at Hannah Collins' house. Please be ready to go at 6am sharp."

"The Headmaster," Layne read out loud. "We made it! Both of us!" She clutched the letter tightly to her. "I'd better go home and pack…" She said after a minute. "See you at school tomorrow?" She asked, folding the letter back into the envelope to take home. "Yeah, I can't wait to see their faces when they find out!" Hannah smiled.

* * *

Layne dashed up the steps and burst into her house. Her mother looked up in surprise. "What's gotten into you?" She resumed chopping a carrot after peering into a pot of boiling water. Layne held up the letter and smiled. "I got into the academy!" She exclaimed, and her mother gasped and hugged her. "When do they pick you up?" She asked her daughter, looking at her. "Next Sunday." Layne responded. Her mother reached over and dropped the carrots into the sizzling stew. "Well, I need to go to town, take that off the stove in an hour. Keep it covered and put it in the fridge if I'm not back by then." She covered it and set the timer. Layne sat down on one of the five stools lining the counter as her mother reappeared minus her apron. "Angel!" Her mother called upstairs. Layne watched her little sister come pounding down. She was only one year younger, but she was a baby to Layne. "Yeah?" Angel asked. "We're going to town." Their mother said, and Angel's face brightened immediately.

* * *

Running back into her house, Hannah squealed with delight. As she ran past her mother, she began running with a sort of victory dance somehow worked into the pace.

"Why are you so happy?" Hannah waved the letter above her head "I got in! So did Layne!" Her mother shook her head "Well I never, I always knew you too were attatched at the hip, but how did you manage this?" Hannah smiled cheekily as she walked into her room to start packing. It was Thursday, a public holiday too, so the was one day left of school.

Grabbing a suitcase from under the bed, Hannah began shoving clothes into it. She had heard that you were given new clothes before you became a tender, but only a few shirts and pants, and they wouldnt give you any good clothes. So going through her cubard, she tried to think of what she would need both over the next year and chose a few light plain and tie died shirts, a few pairs of summer pants and skirts, and two summer dresses. She knew it wouldnt always be warm where they would be going, she she dug into her wardrobe to find her winter clothing too. She eventualy found them, and pulled out a few long sleaved shirts, a coupple of Jumpers, three pairs of jenes and a good sturdy belt. Chucking in the last few things; a few good shirst, shoes, a hat, under garments, PJ's and a large sturdy coat, Hannah struggled to close her bag.

"You probably could have packed that better" Hannah looked over her shoulder to see her step brother standing in the door. "Go away twerp, Im busy" The 10 year old boy shrugged and walked off, probably going back to his computer games.

* * *

Layne stuffed the big pot into the fridge and dashed upstairs into her room. Hers was the only room on the 3rd floor, her older brother's old room and her little sister's room below on the 2nd. She quickly stuffed her clothes into a big suitcase and everything else into a big backpack. She sat on her bed and looked around her now bare room. Faintly she heard the rest of her family come home from town and pounded down the stairs. Angel rushed past her and up to her room, clutching a little bag as if it her life depended on it. Her mother came through the door with several bags, followed by her father who had groceries weighing him down. "Start the stew to heat and then go get the last of the groceries, Layne." Her mother called over her shoulder as she disappeared into the back of the house. Layne shook her head and put the stew back on the stove on high.

Layne came back inside laden with groceries. As she finished putting them away, the aroma of vegetable stew was almost overpowering. She spooned out four bowls of soup and set drinks on the table just as Angel came downstairs and her parents reappeared. "Thank you, Layne." Her father said as they all sat around the large round kitchen table. Only one chair was unoccupied; her older brother Zayne's. Her father said a prayer and then they all started eating. Layne could detect some Neo and Canopy scale seasoning in the soup. Her mother used it rarely as it was expensive, so Layne was a little surprised but enjoyed the flavoring.

* * *

Sitting at the dinner Table, Hannah cheerfully talked with her siblings and parents over a meal of fish and salad, enjoying the hectic conversations of 9 people at one table. She would probably share with more people at the Academy, but for now she was happy to be annoyed by her little sister and five brothers.

* * *

_Dont worry about the reference to Neo and Canopy scale seasoning. Dragon scales are shed regularly and sold for a variety of reasons, Neo and Canopy scales are spicy and crushed to be made into seasoning. Next chapter SHOULD be up within a week *crosses fingers*_


	5. Chapter 4

**Dragon Cave (DragCave) is copyright to T.J. Lipscomb, the dragon breeds and art are copyright TJ and their respective artists, these individual dragons, characters and the storylines belong to Zephyr_Drake and LightningRip.** Probably rated higher than necessary because there may be fighting, there will be a zombifacation (eventually) and mating flights.

_This is another backstory chapter, but needs to be in here._

**Chapter 4: First Day of the rest of our lives  
**

Layne yawned and stretched. She rolled over and looked out the window. Today was Sunday. Today was the beginning of the rest of her life. She yawned again and hopped out of bed and shuffled over to her dresser and pulled out a plain black tank top with a yellow dragon on it and a denim skirt with Sunsong scales sewn on it out. Her mother had given her the skirt for her 14th birthday, and Layne loved it. She knew the scales were expensive, and it meant a lot to her. She walked briskly down the hall and into the bathroom.

Layne peered downstairs to see her mother making breakfast and started down the stairs, wavy dirty blond hair cascading around her face. She reached up and tucked a long piece behind her ear as she sat on one of the stools. "Morning, sleepy." Her mother looked up from the sizzling frying pan. Layne looked down at her watch. 5am on the dot, which meant she had woken up at 4:30. Right on time. Layne looked up as Angel jumped off the landing of the stairs and jumped up onto the stool beside her. "Morning sis'." She smiled at Layne and pointed a Polaroid camera at her sister. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! Three little pictures popped out of Layne sitting on the stool. Angel shook them a little and put them in her bag. Layne shook her head. "I'm not even gonna ask." She said as her mother set two plate of fried eggs, pancakes, potatoes and toast in front of the girls. "Thanks, mom." Layne said.

* * *

Hannah hummed happily as she dried her hair. It was Sunday! In only a few hours, she would be leaving, going to start her new life! And with none other than her best friend! As she finished her hair, she shoved her hair brush back into the toiletry bag, double checking she had everything as she did. She turned her head as someone started banging on the bathroom door. She open it to reviel her sister, red faced and looking very cranky. "WHY do you have to take so long!" Hannah grabbed her things and sidestepped out of the room to allow her sister in. "I don't know Tiffy, maybe because today is the last day I'll be here for, hopefully, a long time?" Tiffany huffed and slammed the door. Preteens, Hannah thought, and began trotting downstairs.

* * *

As soon as she got downstairs, Hannah was ambushed by her teary eyed mother. "Oh my baby!" Hannah tried to squirm out "Mum!" As the middle child, this was not a normal occurrence, to be the center of attention. As she struggled to free herself, she noticed that her two older brothers who has moved out, and the eldest's family, had come to bid her farewell.

"Aunty Hannah!" As she finally freed herself, Hannah was again hit with hugs, but this time from her two year old niece, Annabelle. "Hey A-Bell!" Hannah scooped the little red head up. "You can tell Nanna that Aunty Hannah will be all right, cant you?" The little girl looked up with big blue eyes and nodded her head. "Aunty Hannah will have fun playing with Dragons, just like Tweepee!" Hannah smiled as noted the little girl was referring to her toy red dragon. Hannah sat down at the table to converse with her family as she ate breakfast, and began wondering how she would live without all this craziness in her life.

* * *

Every head in the room turned as there was a knock at the door. Hannah lifted Annabelle off her knee and stood up with a brave face, and walked towards the door. She breathed in deep as she grasped the door knob, and turned. "GOOD MORNING SLEEPY HEAD!" Hannah fell over in shock as Layne jumped inside the door. "LAYNE!" Hannah scowled at her friend, who had somehow jumped inside while carrying WAYYY to much stuff. Both girls cracked up laughing.

Through laugh-induced tears, Hannah lifted up her arm. "Help me up you ditz!" Layne reached out and pulled Hannah up, both still laughing, and shut the door behind her. "I knew I'd get you!" She put her bags down at the door next to Hannah's. "Yeah? Well next time I'll get you!" As both girls cracked up laughing again, there was a sudden thud at the door, and they suddenly clasped hands, terrified as to who was on the other side of the door.

Looking at each other, Layne and Hannah looked terrified. "Do you want to open it?" "No, do you" "No, both together?" Both girls nodded, and placed a hand on the doorknob, turned it and pulled. On the other side was a man in a bus drivers uniform, and in the street outside the house was a large bus. The man looked up from his clip board. "Hannah Collins and Layne Herring?" The girls nodded "Well, get your stuff down to the bus, we leave in 10 minutes". He began to walk back to the bus.

* * *

Hannah and Layne looked at each other and squealed. They ran back to their bags, and saw that Hannah's Mum was on the phone, probably to Layne's Mum, and the rest of the gang was getting up to see them off. The girls grabbed their bags and began hauling them to the side walk, where the driver began to put them into the bus's cargo hold. Layne's Mum ran down and began showering Layne in hugs, and Hannah's Mum was doing the same thing.

"I have some money for you Hannah" Hannah looked up at her Mum. They didn't have much, so this really did mean something. "I have 200 Marks for you..." Hannah gasped. That was a weeks wage from her mothers home business, and worth plenty anywhere, as the inter-dimensional currency. "Mum... I..." Her mum shushed her and put a small red pouch in her hand. "Take good care o it, and don't spend it all at once" Hannah did not resit the last hug before the driver began shouting to get on the bus.

* * *

Layne and Hannah walked onto the bus and both took window seats, one in front of the other, and waved out the window as the bus began to roll off. Hannah poked her head over the seat to Layne "My Mum gave me 200 Marks!" Layne's jaw dropped "So did mine!" Both girls chatted until chatting became boring, then looked out the window at the countryside, before falling asleep.


	6. Chapter 5

**Dragon Cave (DragCave) is copyright to T.J. Lipscomb, the dragon breeds and art are copyright TJ and their respective artists, these individual dragons, characters and the storylines belong to Zephyr_Drake and LightningRip.** Probably rated higher than necessary because there may be fighting, there will be a zombifacation (eventually) and mating flights.

_This is another backstory chapter, but needs to be in here._

**Chapter 5: Welcome to Astraea!**

Layne woke with a start. Stupid dreams, she thought as she shook her head. She reached down and flipped open the photo album her brother had given her. It was a beautiful dark red leather, and matched the journal her parents had given her. Both had a large dragon stamped into the leather on the covers. Layne couldn't quite tell what breed of dragon they were, but she was sure that one day she'd find out.

"Take lots of pictures, who knows, maybe you can send letters or we can visit." her sister had said as she handed her the camera she had been running around with like mad. Layne had smiled and hugged her sister. Then her parents had told her to write to them if she could, and that her brother had dropped off the album while he was in town the day before, but he had a class at the university he couldn't miss. Then she'd hugged them all and dashed as quick as she could with all her stuff over to Hannah's house. And typical Layne, of courses she had a million things to carry, but she was to hyper to notice how heavy it was.

* * *

Layne opened the photo album and flipped through all the pictures. Her parents had said the journal and the album were a set, and enchanted to never run our of room, but always weighed the same and looked the same on the outside. Layne smiled as she looked at a picture of herself jumping up and trying to grab her shoe from her brother when they were younger. She remembered that day. She had planned to go hiking in the forest, but her brother had had different ideas that involved her chasing him around the house all afternoon. That was last year, before he went to the university in the larger city a few hours away. She sighed and stuffed the album back into her backpack and set it back up on the rack above her.

She looked around and for the first time realized the bus was full of sleeping teenagers bound for the Academy. She was the only one awake though, even Hannah was still snoring quietly. Layne quietly slipped around the corner of her seat and sat next to Hannah. Technically, she was supposed to be in her seat. But then again, technically, each seat was made for two people. "Hannah?" She whispered quietly. No response. Her friend was still asleep. Layne looked ahead and jumped out of her seat, landing on Hannah. "Oww!" Hannah was instantly awake. "I'm not a couch you know, Layne." Hannah said. Layne laughed and said, "Well, sorry, you were so still I thought you'd become part of the seat!"

Hannah looked ahead and gasped, reminding Layne why she'd jumped in the first place. Layne tilted her head just enough to hear a few sleepy teenagers muttering. "I wish those idiots over there would SHUT UP." Some guy whispered to another as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. Layne was about to go tell HIM to shut up when Hannah said her name. "Look, Layne, it's a castle!"

Layne turned back to her friend and looked where she was pointing. Indeed there was the faint outline of a castle in the distance, and Layne could see lights illuminating windows. The castle was dead ahead, and the bus pulled to a stop. "Alright, time to wake up!" The grumpy driver said as he got up and started down the aisle. Layne quickly slid around into her seat before he got to the back. He eyed her as if he knew she had broken the rules. Layne made a mental note to watch her step around this guy. She'd have to pull her pranks when he wasn't around.

* * *

Hannah's eyes moved from the castle on top of the hill to the town below it. It was bustling, even at this hour. She could swear she even saw things flying between rooftops, but in the dawn light it was too hard to tell if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not. She knew that the town below the Academy, Astraea, had been founded originally as a military base, to prevent people from abusing the portal to DC. Once the Academy was opened, it became is resource center for the students, importing food and other resources from both Terran sources and otherworld sources. The dimension called Touros for instance, grew the largest, finest cattle anywhere, and the beef it produced supplied to not only its own dimension's population, but also to that of many Terran cities. Terra itself produced very little for itself nowadays. There were still a few places where people grew crops and raised livestock, and a few towns where there were still wild places, but most resources came from DC now, and most people went on holidays to various dimensions that you could reach from DC.

* * *

As the bus driver finished his head count, he walked back to the front of the bus and started yelling orders.  
"Now, you lot are going to be staying up in the Academy with the other students soon enough, but tonight you'll stay in the Inns in town. Tomorrow is the graduation ceremony for the 4th Term students, and after tomorrow you will be moving into their old rooms." He paused. "There are five Inns in town, but due to the graduation, there are quite a few others staying here. Therefore, your gonna need to bunk up." He pulled a list from the bottom of the papers on his clipboard. "The Sleeping Dragon Inn has two rooms with 5 beds available, the Astral Inn has one room with 3 beds, the Moonlight Inn has three rooms with 6 beds, the Ravaged Frill Inn has one room with 5 beds, and the Hidden Magic Inn is full, unless you want to bunk up with a smelly old man who came to see his grandson off."

Hannah looked around the bus. A few people had started whispering, trying to decide who they wanted to bunk with. The bus driver chimed in again. "And no boys in girls rooms, or vice versa". With exactly 10 girls and 10 boys, that might be hard. Layne reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling it into the air with her own.  
"We'll take the room at the Astral Inn!" The bus driver nodded and wrote on his clipboard. A blond haired boy a few seats up, and the red headed boy behind him put their hands up. "We'll take a room in the Sleeping Dragon Inn" "So will we!" A tiny, pale girl shoved her hand up, as did the black-haired-and-clothed girl behind her. "I'll take the room in the Ravaged Frill!" The girl with Platinum blond hair stood up, clearly determined to get the room. "I'll bunk with her! "So will I!" A girl who had clearly had a hair-pigment implant put her hand up, as did the tanned girl at the front of the bus. This went on till all the teenagers had rooms. A tall brunette had bunked with Layne and Hannah.

* * *

As they dragged their luggage towards the Inn, Layne and Hannah introduced themselves to their new, though temporary, roommate. "My name is Roxanne." The girl smiled, almost wincing as she dragged what looked like a ton of baggage. She had just as much as Layne did with her. "Im from London, I've been traveling for days to get here. The bus picked me up at the airport, when I got on everyone was still asleep." Eventually the girls got to the Inn. The front door was covered in stars, and two statues of some type of Wyvren stood guard by the door, another one was perched on the roof. As they reached to ring the doorbell, they heard a screeching sound from inside, then some banging around, before a flustered woman opened the door, with a little black and blue animal at her feet.

"Im terribly sorry, Farpar isn't normally like this, its all the commotion that's upsetting her." The young woman reached down and picked up the animal, Hannah could see it was a Wyvren hatchling now, and began stroking it, clearly trying to sooth it. "My name is Delilah, Im the owner of the Astral Inn, and this is Farpar, our Nebula Wyvren hatchling." Hannah and Layne looked at each other. A Nebula! It was so pretty! "I'm guessing you're the new students, come in, I'll show you to your room."

The girls followed Delilah up the stairs and down the hall to their room. "I hope you find it comfortable, dinner will be on the table at six, and the cook will make you a sandwich at lunch time if you are hungry, but we have already served breakfast, sorry. There's a baker in town that you could grab a roll from, they don't charge new students on their first day." Delilah handed them the key to their room and left.

Hannah opened the heavy door to their room, and was slightly stunned to see the star-themed decorations in the room. They clearly took their name seriously! Putting her bags at the end of one bed, Hannah sat down to rest and gather her thoughts. They had only been away from home one day, yet so much was already happening! She laid down and listened to the bustling in the street, the call of dragons and the sounds of preparation for the coming celebration.

* * *

Layne half dragged, half shoved her stuff into their room and plopped down on the bed across from Hannah's. Roxanne also dragged her stuff in and collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. Layne quickly squeezed her stuff under her bed and slung her backpack over her shoulder. It had her money and the gifts from her family in it, but was still rather empty.

"I'm gonna go get some of those rolls Delilah mentioned for us." After the others nodded, she made her way out of the Inn and found herself on the Main Street. Just across the street was a place called Sugar and Scales-a bakery. Might be the one Delilah talked about. Layne dashed across the road and stepped inside the little shop, greeted by the ringing of a bell and a woman behind the counter. She had dark brunette hair pulled in a bun with flour on her hands, and was wearing a flour-covered apron.

"May I help you?" She asked as she wiped her hands off and stepped up to the counter. "Umm.. The owner of the Astral Inn mentioned a bakery that offered free rolls on academy students first day.." Layne said after a moment of looking at all the pastries and sweets they offered. "Yes, thats us." The woman responded. Layne smiled and asked for three before resuming looking at the other things. Layne looked up as the woman set a small box on the counter.  
"Theres three cinnamon rolls in there as well. On the house." She smiled.  
"Thanks, but are you sure? You might get in trouble?" Layne said.  
"Positive, I own this place."  
Layne smiled again, said thanks, and ran back over to the Inn. She stepped inside their room and set the little box on the foot of Hannah's bed. "Wake up sleepy people, I have food!" She called, and sat down on her own bed as she bit into a cinnamon roll.

* * *

_Ok, so they are almost at the academy. If you cant tell yet, there is two authors here, each telling the story from their own characters point of view. We don't relay know where this town ACTUALLY is, and so all references to actual other towns (at this point) wont say how far they are or even if its in the same country. Hope you've enjoyed it so far, please review, even if its just to say if you like it or not._


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